Locking hair-pin.



J. P. BURKE.

LOCKING HAIR PlN.

APPLICATION FILED MT. 20. I917.

1 ,272,209. Patented July 9, 1918..

v WITNESSES I INVENTOR 9 cLRBurbe W By M fiTTOR/MEYS the device in aladys hair. I wish it to be l r P P. Beam, OF STBUTHERS, QHIO.

LOCKING HAIR-PIN.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, James P. BURKE, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Struthers, in the county of Mahonmg and State of Ohio,have invented a new and Improved Locking Hair-Pin, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to hairpins and has particular reference to thattype of hairpins that are intended to be self locking.

Among the objects of the invention, therefore, is to provide a hairpinhaving or including prongs that are adapted to be so interlocked withthe strands of hair or each other as to preclude any reasonablepossibility of the hairpin loosening or slipping out of the hair.

My improved hairpin is calculated for use particularly in connectionwith hair ornaments such as tortoise shell, celluloid, or ornamentalmetal devices having prongs adapted to project into and thereby holdunderstood, however, that the invention is well adapted for ordinarypins employed for the dressing of ladies hair.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts. hereinafter described andclaimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose ofillustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan viewof a preferred embodiment of interlocking prongs, the

prongs being spaced or open as in the posi-.

tion for introduction into the hair.

Fig. 2 is a simila'r'view'but with the dej vice turned around alongitudinal central. axis through an angle of 90 degrees, and

Figs. 3 and 4 are views with the prongs interlocked, but beingotherwise-similar to Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.

My improved hairpin, or is shown as comprlsmg two features, namely,

a head '10 and a pair of prongs 11. The.

lustrated consists merely of a loop of material of a more or lessflexible nature such as ring metal, celluloid, tortoise shell, or thelike. The head further head inthe form i more m y be of an Qm m t lnature s ch Specification of Letters ?atent. Application filed October20, 1917. Serial No. 197,089.

hair ornament,

Patented July 9, 3238.

as of polished gold or silver and may be of any desired configurationbut as to the head per- 86 I am not particularly concerned in thisinstance.

The main feature of importance and novelty l1 es in the peculiarconstruction and operation of the two prongs/11 which are or may beduplicates. Each prong in general from one end to the other, except aswill shortly be described, is substantially straight but 1n the openposition of the pin the two prongs are so arranged with respect to eachother that they lie in different planes, one in eflectintersecting theplane of the other as may be appreciated if the pin occupying theposition of Fig. 2 be rotated so that the upper prong approaches theobserver while the pin is rotated as a whole through about one eight ofa turn. Described in another way the head 10 consists of a curve in theform of a spiral rather than an arc of a circle and the two prongsextend from the points or ends of the spiral 10" at an oblique angle toeach other instead of in the same plane as would be true. if the curvewere an arc of a circle. One reason for this particular feature may beappreciated if the pin in the position of Fig. 2 be regarded as heldsteady by the lower prong and the upper prong be grasped at .the pointand drawn toward the observer and thence swung downwardly into theposition of Fig. 4. The resilience of the metal, therefore, at thespiral head 10 acts to hold the two prongs in interlocking engagementwith suflicient force for the purpose of preventing accidentalwithdrawal of the pin from the hair.

At any desired point or place along the same from one end to the other,each prong is provided with a compound curve 12. This curve maybedescribed in a general way as a spiral, or Sl10h -'9.S'IIilgl1t beformed by grasping the "prongs firmly by' the fingers "while; in spacedrelation, on opposite sides of the curves 12.;and then'giving the deviceas a whole a twisting movement preferably tions of. thepinhowever,whether locked or unlocked either straight portion of either prong liesapproximately in alinement with the other straight ortion of the sameprong.

It wil be we hem r tha th 1 9 or head portion of the pin approximates aposition in a plane at right angles to the plane of the points of theprongs. This fact can be appreciated best from Figs. 2'and 3. In Fig. 1,however, the point of the lower prong must be read as occupying apo'sition closer to the observer than the point of the upper prong whilethe opposite end of the upper prong and upper point 10 lies closer tothe observer than the lower point 10. In other words with the pin lyingon the paper corresponding to Fig. 1 neither end thereof would lie flatagainst the paper. In Fig. 2'the points both lie flat while the loopprojects approximately at rights angles thereto. From the constructionof the prongs illustrated it will be observed that m the interlockingaction thereof there are provided two shoulders at the points 13, whichwhen the in is in looking position bear squarely against each other andare 50 held by the resiliency of the device especially at the head asdescribed above.

The operation may be briefly summarized as follows: With the pin in openposition as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 it is introduced into the hair in theusual manner and after it is so introduced the operator holds thefingers of one hand firmly and flatly against the points of the prongsand then imparts a right-handed or clockwise rotation to the headthereof which causes the shoulder'portions 13 of the prongs to interlockin the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 as a result of the twistingaction imparted to the pin between its ends. The strand or portion ofthe hair that is thus trapped within the closed loop 14 of the pin willin eifect positively hold or lock the pin from withdrawal. Anyforce thatmight be applied to the pin tendin to cause such withdrawal withoutunlocking the pin would simply cause the entrapped strand of hair totend to spread the end'of the loop toward the points with the resultthat the interlocking shoulders 13 will more positively be heldtogether. As

noted in Fig. 3 the locking efiect is precisely the same as though theup er prong of Figs. 1 and 2 be swung towar the observer and thencedownwardly entirely beneath the other prong oint making a practicallpositive lock and yet without any ossibi 'ty of breaking, cutting, orotherwise damaging the hair in practice. To remove the pmobviousliy itis necessar only for the operator to hol the points 0 the prongsby'pressmg with the fingers on one hand against the same and givmg thehead or loopportion of the pin a left-handed partial turn or twistaround its longitudinal axis. After the in is thus unlocked it may, ofcourse, be w1th drawn in the usual manner.

I claim:

1. The herein described locking hairpin comprising ahead and two prongsextending therefrom, the tially straight rom one end to the other exceptfor a short distance between the ends where it .is formed into a spiralformin a shoulder adapted to interlock directly with the similarshoulder of the other prong, whereby when the pin is introduced into thehair with the prongs spaced from each other and the ends of the prongsare then held firmly and the head end of the pin is given a turn ortwist around the longitudinal axis of the pin the two shoulder maticallyinterlock.

2. In a locking hairpin, the combination of a head and two pr ngsprojecting therefrom resiliently, eac prong intermediate of its endsbeing provided with a compoundcurved portion while the straight portionson opposite sides of the curved portion lie approximately in the samedirection, said curved portions of the two prongs being adapted tointerlock when the head of the pin is given a rotation around alongitudinal axis 0 the pin with respect to the points of the prongs.

JAMES P. BURKE.

rongs being each substanportions auto-

